Afghanistan minerals smuggled to Pakistan

Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani informed the Meshrano Jirga, or upper house of parliament, about the smuggling of precious and semi-precious stones from Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Pakistan generates about USD 350mn revenue on smuggling of these stones annually, while Afghanistan only earns USD 300,000.

The industry offered jobs to 5,000 Afghans and 6,000 Pakistanis, he added. He alleged the neighboring country processed the smuggled minerals and exported them as made-in-Pakistan products.

Minister Shahrani also informed the lawmakers that the extraction of oil by a Chinese company will begin on October 20. The extraction process at a commercial scale will be for the first time in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan currently imports USD 3.5bn oil every year. With the extraction of oil from Amu river, reliance on oil imports would decrease.

Shahrani said the deposits were estimated to contain 250 million barrels of oil. “With one barrel priced at $100, Afghanistan will earn approximately $7 billion in the next 25 years.”